Nonwrestler Blog

Weekly mp3 #76: Sonmi451 - Probe

Get this from the Audio page on Sonmi451's site.

This super-chilled ambient track starts with what might be slowed down, processed windchimes. Soft, deep chords enter in and various fx details and scatter about. Japanese vocal snippets, like last time. A nice string sample drops in. It's a good complement to the electronic sounds. More bits and bobs come and go, including some very restrained melodic elements and some echoing blips of percussion.

I already wrote about Sonmi451 when I last linked to him in one of these weekly mp3 posts.

Labels: music, weekly mp3

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Awful Library Books

A friend sent me this:

http://awfullibrarybooks.wordpress.com/

One hell of a birthday present.

Labels: life

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Weekly mp3 #75: Roots Manuva - Witness (1 Hope)

Another jobbie from XLR8R.

I guess for most reading this, this track requires little introduction beyond confirming that it's the one that goes "witness the fitness". I loved the fact Michael Caine's character rolled around listening to this in Children of Men - makes abundant sense that an aging hippy / counter-culture type 20ish years in the future would be listening to London hip-hop rather than Bob Dylan or somesuch, and seemed like a detail that could be easily messed up.

London MC Rodney Smith typifies what I think of as distinctive in UK hip-hop - don't misread that as saying most UK hip-hop does sound distinctive - in that there seems to be a much closer connection between MC-driven music and dance music, plus the unmistakable impact of the West Indian / Caribbean population and all the musical history that comes with that.

Labels: music, weekly mp3

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Weekly mp3 #74: Tape - Root Tattoo

Get this from Tape's lovely label, Häpna. Scroll past the purchase links to reach the nine (!) free Tape downloads.

Acoustic guitar, a melodica melody, a touch of twangy slide guitar. Maybe a degraded recording of birds outside, or just a funny synth noise. A hesitant touch of xylophone later on. Touches of feedback and distortion kept way down in the mix. That's all we need.

Tape are a Swedish three-piece, and used to have a rather lovely website, with lots of contents, which they've wisely ditched in favour of myspace. NICE. They've released plenty of albums and seem to be quite distinctive in the world of instrumental rock music, in that they're not awful.

Labels: music, weekly mp3

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News just in: analogue sequencer has pretty lights

I tried not to get into gear lust, but this video from 30 years ago made me go "shit yes". The good old BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

Labels: music, youtube

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Caffeinated meat snacks

Just a quick link - the idea of this product freaked me out no end.

Perky Jerky is caffeinated beef jerky, made from 100% all natural beef, with an invigorating additive derived from Guarana, a natural energy booster with approximately twice the caffeine content of a coffee bean.

(Seen on popbitch )

Labels: misc time-wasting

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Weekly mp3 #73: Lost Valentinos - Midnights (Emperor Machine Remix)

The label attached to Dummy magazine gives away average-quality MP3s of every track on their commercial releases. Probably pretty practical approach.

"My God, it's full of synths."

Behold, thirteen and a half minutes of moody synth-disco action!
Layered percussion!
Interlocking chugga chugga chugga synth patterns!
Crazy chord changes!
70s-style Moog vamps!
Millions of breakdowns, switch-ups, drops, dub-outs, and fx!
Flashbacks to Blake's Seven or The Tomorrow People guaranteed!

... although, admittedly it takes a while to get going.

The original track is sorta like Grand National, a bit of The Rapture or I guess fellow Oz-tralians Midnight Juggernauts. If none of those names mean anything, there's a guy singing OKish songs who goes a bit screamy. The remix sticks to the basic two-part structure of the original - first part straight 16th beat feel, second part is swung in that way that may remind you of Gary Glitter, Goldfrapp or schaffel house - but expands the whole thing out so it runs for ages. Some of it makes me think of what African disco I've heard, with all the hand drums and synth parts standing in for tuned percussion like kalimbas and so on.

Sydney's Lost Valentinos seem fairly whatever, but I've been trying to find reason to link to the Emperor Machine for ages. There's a free solo track of his online, and there's a free remix he did for Late of the Pier. Problem is I don't particularly like either. So I'm glad to have found a decent free track by him. Anyway... The Emperor Machine is another one-man band type project from the UK. I love his analogue-fetishist take on sort of that sort of post-punk disco vibe. It gets called kraut-disco, which is curious, cos I don't know any kraut rock stuff that sounds like what he does. I guess people are thinking Dinger's "motorik" (sorry?) i.e. very simple, repetitive, relentless drumming. Or maybe kraut rock is cool again.

The cover art for his releases is some of the most apt I've seen. Check it out.




Flip yes.

Labels: music, weekly mp3

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Weekly mp3 #72: Ced Hughes - Cash or Credit

RJCTDVWLS come through with the goods yet again (he writes reluctantly).

Short, upbeat hip-hop number, with a nice beat from New York-based producer Eliot Lipp. If you've heard Lipp, you know basically how it will go - bright and shiny synth chords with a bit of echo, an electro-funk style lick that makes me think of 'Buffalo Stance' and a chopped-up (classic) funk break. Ced's got infectious energy, which totally suits the bounce in the beat. Typical brag rap, bit of a Lupe Fiasco tone to his voice... I dunno, it's good times.

So far as I know Ced Hughes is the guy's real name. He's in the US, duh. Free EP on his myspace too, 4000 myspace "friends", blocks of day-glo colours, youth of today, bla bla...

Labels: music, weekly mp3

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